January is a time of new beginnings, and since mb/i is all about quality, business-centered websites, we thought we’d take a look at 10 reasons you might want to build a new site.
10. Haphazard Growth
Some times a website won’t grow according to plan because there never was a plan to begin with. Poor navigation and uneven development are the hallmarks of an unplanned site. Some pages remain “under development” for years while others grow, and branch, and twist until even a modern Daedalus would get lost in their digital halls.
9. Hard to Update
If you need to call up …

Unless you have an e-commerce website where the action you want your visitors to take (buy now) happens within the site itself, you have to work a little harder on adding legitimate calls to action to your site without going over the top with “click here” buttons.

The idea is to guide the visitor to an action on each page of your website without being pushy. Most of us just want people to call. We know we can take it from there. But you need more than your phone number on the …

We all need a place to start when embarking upon a creative endeavor - and make no mistake about it, a good presentation is a work of creativity.  However, there are some concrete steps we can all take to make sure that the underlying core of our projects are solid.  I hope mine can speak for themselves…
10 – Stick to your Central Message
A presentation is not a survey course.  You cannot cover everything.  Make sure you know what you’re going to talk about and ruthlessly remove all subject matter which deviates from that subject.
9 – Have an Objective
As a professional, …

Even in an online world increasingly influenced by social networking sites e-mail continues to play an integral part in marketing and promotion.

Like social networks, e-mail allows you to speak simultaneously and directly to clients, vendors, fans, or any other interested online parties, and unlike most social network presences, you get to define the avenue for direct feedback.

As with any marketing you want to generate interest in your company, strengthen your brand identity, and increase sales.  In addition, e-mail communications, especially bulk e-mail communications are frequently viewed as invasive, so it is important that recipients want you to stay in touch …

Including team biography pages on your website is a wonderful way to put a human face on your company and to provide potential clients, colleagues, and vendors with additional insight into who you are and how you roll.

However, a good bio page requires some degree of individual content gathered from every team member who is featured.  And while web designers can do a lot of things, we can’t just invent content (especially personalized content) out of thin air.

How then, should you go about gathering the information you need for team bio pages?

1. Know Your Roster

When you get started, make sure …

Coming up with content for a website can be the hardest part of the development process and most often the cause of schedule delays. Even if you are using a professional writer, there is a lot to think about and prepare. Here are some general guidelines to help you.

1. Gather all of the marketing materials you have (and like) where you can get content from.

2. Define your audience or audiences. You need to put yourself in the shoes of your site’s visitors. What information do they need and how might they look for it?

3. Work on your site’s structure or …